Northport starts slow but finishes with flourish against Bay Shore
Northport's Ella Cabrera (3) gives the thumbs up sign to the bench during the a girls lacrosse game at Bay Shore on Saturday April 2, 2022. Credit: Bob Sorensen
The toughest challenge the Northport girls lacrosse team may face all season may not come from someone wearing a jersey. It could derive from expectations.
Northport, the 2019 state Class A champions (the last spring season with a state tournament) and coming off an undefeated Long Island Class A championship last year, are well are of its expectations this season. The Tigers were the No. 2 ranked high school team in the country in the Nike/USA Lacrosse preseason polls and Newsday’s top-ranked team on Long Island entering the season.
But for nearly the entire first half of Northport’s matchup with Bay Shore Saturday afternoon, the Tigers didn’t look like the elite of the elite.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to remind everyone how dangerous they can be. Northport scored three goals over 73 seconds to end the first half with a four-goal advantage en route to its 18-5 victory over host Bay Shore in Suffolk Division I girls lacrosse Saturday afternoon.
“There’s the pressure of having a team with high expectations coming into this season,” said Ella Cabrera, who scored three goals. “We just want to make sure we can live up to those and exceed the best we can. Once we get those nerves away, we work well together.”
Northport scored the first nine goals of the second half as the Tigers opened a 16-3 lead with 7:03 remaining in the second half.
“We just talked it out at halftime,” said Kaylie Mackiewicz, who scored six goals. “We worked on the transition, we got the ball down and moved it way better and just started connecting with each other and we definitely settled in.”
Julia Huxtable had three goals and two assists, Shannon Smith had two goals and three assists and Isabella Germani had two goals and an assist for Northport (2-0).
Liz Schmutz had four goals Cassie Hall had 15 saves, including 11 in the first half to keep Bay Shore (2-1) in the game early.
Northport, winners of its last 36 games dating back to 2019, went 18-0 in its Long Island Class A championship season last spring.
Cabrera and Mackiewicz were freshmen on the 2019 state championship team. But much of the current team hasn’t played in a state tournament due to no fault of their own with the 2020 season canceled and no state championships in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve been working together all offseason,” Cabrera said. “We all know each other well as teammates and friends. I think that helps us live up to the expectations with how strong of a bond we have.”
The inability to play for state championships sticks with Northport. The Tigers are determined to do whatever it takes to end this year with a state title.
“We are just so motivated to get there for (our teammates), for us, our community,” Cabrera said. “Having that on our backs is something that I think will push us to states this year.”
“It’s definitely a factor to motivate us,” Mackiewicz said. “We want to defend that title. It’s our senior season, we want to obviously play well ourselves, but do it as a team.”
